I just commented on a question that I think would solve this posters problem. But I didn't post it as an answer. I feared it would be down-voted like crazy by the purists, those who like to give solid, succinct answers or NO answers. As it uses a "hacky" like XXS approach. I don't know how to answer questions of these types without being attacked. Maybe I'm not giving the community enough credit, but how does a development renegade succeed in the SO world?

wow i just checked back at the question and it got downvoted, case in point.
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ChamilyanAug 22 '11 at 0:29

3

Don't fear downvoting as much - one upvote weights up five down-votes, reputation wise. Post some disclaimers with your answer (like "might cease to work if the browser-creators learn about it").
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Paŭlo EbermannAug 22 '11 at 0:48

-1 for all the hand-wringing over downvotes. If you think you have a solid, workable answer, you should post it. End of story. (Otherwise, of course, please don't. Saves us from having to delete it later on.) Hacky approaches are sometimes acceptable. You'll probably get a few downvotes and a few comments explaining why your solution is hacky and why that's bad. Those are educational for everyone. That doesn't mean the hacky solution won't still be helpful to people. Go for the accept rather than the +1s anyway.
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Cody GrayAug 22 '11 at 12:20

^ not "end of story", SO works because everyone is guided by their selfish gene. I'm personally here for three reasons. A - I find coding powerful and fascinating , B - I feel good for 5 minutes when someone upvotes my answers and most importantly, C - I'm currently out of work and looking for my first Product Manager job and I want to use Stackoverflow as a credible part of my CV. Many downvotes would seriously undermine my credibility. It's a fun form of expression to some, but I'm personally not here to play around. Or at least play around more then I'm here to work :)
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ChamilyanAug 22 '11 at 19:20

2 Answers
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I once met a priest who made the comment, "Once I became an author, I pretty much had to stop caring about what people thought of me. There will always be someone to criticize."

The fact of the matter is there when we write, there we go before the world. If we are timid, if we shy from this task, then wisdom falls silent and knowledge gleaned becomes useless.

I admit, there have been times when this has caused loss of reputation, but as much fun as reputation is, this site isn't these sites aren't about how many times you've managed to get 200 rep in a day. They're about helping people.

And you know what? If you spend enough time on the SE network, there will be times where you'll have the thought, "Why did I say that? WHY???". Sometimes you won't even be able to remove the post (see previous link), but that happens.

And then, there are times when you will be convinced that you have said something the right way. There will be times where you will start seeing downvotes and you'll say, "No. I am convinced that this is the right way to handle this problem, and I don't care."

I sympathise and apologise; I also like to answer with a way for people to answer their own questions or some guidance on areas to investigate. Granted, sometimes it is just viable to add it as a comment, I've had it recently where I commented on a possible path, and it fixed the problem and the user let me re-post it as an answer.

This is sadly not the norm though.

My idea is that down-voters should be encouraged to be constructive in their downvoting, so that contributes like ourselves and future readers can learn and develop.

I do believe that others would say 'in the spirit of stackoverflow': just post your answer and don't worry about downvoting; don't take it personally.
Sadly, it's hard not too sometimes. vOv